The story goes like this, a traveling salesman in the 1850s was going through the area between Maybinton and Cross Keys, SC with his large white dog. This dog was brought along for not only company, but for protection as well (personal protection at the time meant taking it into your own hands). This salesman was going door to door selling his product, when a murder took place in the community. It seems as though he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, because he was hunted down by the townspeople after the news of the murder spread throughout the community.
As the townspeople hunted down the man, his dog tried to fend of the attackers. But the dog wasn’t able to protect it’s owner, for he was immediately hanged after being captured. As the hanging occurred, the dog bit more people, but was shot and went off into the woods. The people of the town cleared out of the area for the night. When they came back the next morning, the dog was back at it’s owners side, fighting furiously to keep all strangers away from the dead corpse hanging from the tree that was it’s final resting place. The corpse hanging from the tree started to rot and emitted a foul odor over the town of Goshen. This smell was made more foul by the fact that it had become clear that the salesman had not committed the crime. Weeks passed and the body became little more than a skeleton. One day, one of the town’s residents noticed that the body and the dog were gone. The whole community could put the mistake behind them. Or at least they thought they could.
Not long had passed before someone living in the town came across the dog again. Slaves in the community began to talk about a so-called ghost dog. Nobody believed this until Doctor George Douglass himself saw the dog. After this sighting happened, another physician in the town, Jim Cofield, saw the dog. Many more reports of the dog happened after these two sightings, most of them telling of the dog running beside the witness just long enough to get their scent before disappearing back into the woods.
Some of the witnesses weren’t as lucky as others. One of the men who had taken place in the hanging was driving his wagon of produce down the road when he came around a bend and saw the dog standing there. His mules were said to have turned so sharply that the whole wagon turned on it’s side. The dog started running towards the man snarling as it went. The man had just enough time to get his mules pointed back at Goshen and to take off as fast as possible away from the creature.
Others that took part on the hanging reported being very violently attacked by the dog, one man had been crippled by a bite that nearly severed his palm. One man was nearly drowned after being knocked into a creak and stood on for several minutes by the beast, and another bitten through his riding boots so hard while on his horse that caused him to have a limp for the rest of his life. All of the people that were involved in the hanging were eventually punished. The man who had shot the dog and wounded or possibly killed the dog had the worst punishment of all, his four-year-old son disappeared without ever being seen again.
Somewhere around the 1920s, the attacks seemed to have died down to little more than a minor threat. Some say it was because the last of the mob involved in the hanging had passed away. In 1936, a man named Berry Sanders reported being chased by the dog, but nothing ever came out of the event. The dog disappeared as Sanders got near his home.
Resources:
Manley, Roger. "Ghost Hound of Goshen." Weird Carolinas. Ed. Mark Sceurman. 1. New York City, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 2007. 181-183. Rpt. in Weird Carolinas. Ed. Mark Sceurman. 1. New York City, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 2007. 181-183. Print.
The Ghost Hound of Goshen
The story goes like this, a traveling salesman in the 1850s was going through the area between Maybinton and Cross Keys, SC with his large white dog. This dog was brought along for not only company, but for protection as well (personal protection at the time meant taking it into your own hands). This salesman was going door to door selling his product, when a murder took place in the community. It seems as though he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, because he was hunted down by the townspeople after the news of the murder spread throughout the community.
As the townspeople hunted down the man, his dog tried to fend of the attackers. But the dog wasn’t able to protect it’s owner, for he was immediately hanged after being captured. As the hanging occurred, the dog bit more people, but was shot and went off into the woods. The people of the town cleared out of the area for the night. When they came back the next morning, the dog was back at it’s owners side, fighting furiously to keep all strangers away from the dead corpse hanging from the tree that was it’s final resting place. The corpse hanging from the tree started to rot and emitted a foul odor over the town of Goshen. This smell was made more foul by the fact that it had become clear that the salesman had not committed the crime. Weeks passed and the body became little more than a skeleton. One day, one of the town’s residents noticed that the body and the dog were gone. The whole community could put the mistake behind them. Or at least they thought they could.
Not long had passed before someone living in the town came across the dog again. Slaves in the community began to talk about a so-called ghost dog. Nobody believed this until Doctor George Douglass himself saw the dog. After this sighting happened, another physician in the town, Jim Cofield, saw the dog. Many more reports of the dog happened after these two sightings, most of them telling of the dog running beside the witness just long enough to get their scent before disappearing back into the woods.
Some of the witnesses weren’t as lucky as others. One of the men who had taken place in the hanging was driving his wagon of produce down the road when he came around a bend and saw the dog standing there. His mules were said to have turned so sharply that the whole wagon turned on it’s side. The dog started running towards the man snarling as it went. The man had just enough time to get his mules pointed back at Goshen and to take off as fast as possible away from the creature.
Others that took part on the hanging reported being very violently attacked by the dog, one man had been crippled by a bite that nearly severed his palm. One man was nearly drowned after being knocked into a creak and stood on for several minutes by the beast, and another bitten through his riding boots so hard while on his horse that caused him to have a limp for the rest of his life. All of the people that were involved in the hanging were eventually punished. The man who had shot the dog and wounded or possibly killed the dog had the worst punishment of all, his four-year-old son disappeared without ever being seen again.
Somewhere around the 1920s, the attacks seemed to have died down to little more than a minor threat. Some say it was because the last of the mob involved in the hanging had passed away. In 1936, a man named Berry Sanders reported being chased by the dog, but nothing ever came out of the event. The dog disappeared as Sanders got near his home.
Resources:
Manley, Roger. "Ghost Hound of Goshen." Weird Carolinas. Ed. Mark Sceurman. 1. New York City, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 2007. 181-183. Rpt. in Weird Carolinas. Ed. Mark Sceurman. 1. New York City, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 2007. 181-183. Print.